In autumn, the sun sets earlier and earlier, and at five o'clock in the evening, light begins to turn to darkness. Slowly, raindrops fall, suppressing the willow leaves that have been blown to the sky by the wind that arrives in advance.

Under the lights of thousands of houses, the curtain of rain is getting heavier. Cars are honking their horns gradually on the road. The silver thread on the back of the orange uniform of the sanitation guard is a little dazzling by the light. The rain flows along the body, passes through the arms, reaches the fingers, and condenses into larger water droplets.

It was low, with countless dust attached, and united into a piece of sand.

He stood in front of the window, watching the people running wildly in the rain. One autumn rain and another cold. He could guess that these people must be shivering. The record player was playing "Piano Music of the Night", which seemed to match the outside environment at this time.

In response to the situation, he opened the door and called the sanitation guard. He wanted him to come in to rest and drink a cup of hot water, but the sanitation guard pushed him away because he was off duty, and he didn't seem to recognize who Lu Ze was.

As soon as the wind blew, he instantly got goosebumps all over his body. When the sanitation guard refused, he stopped inviting him, closed the door, turned around, turned off the drip coffee machine on the bar, and poured a cup of coffee to warm himself.

"Boss, is it raining?"

"Um."

She was leaning against the glass at the table in the corner, listening to music. When Lu Ze opened the door, the sound of rain suddenly started, so she could hear it clearly. She was a little worried about how she would go back without an umbrella. The reason for asking was just to hear Lu Ze.

Ze denied her conjecture and gave an answer that it was just a sprinkler truck passing by, but she was disappointed in the end.

She lowered her head, sighed secretly, and her expression became a little sad. Now she could only hope that the rain would stop soon so that she wouldn't go back too late. She had never thought of asking Lu Ze for help. There was no such thing in her mind.

option, her white and slender fingers crossed, holding a still warm water glass between her hands, she put her ear close to the glass and began to pay attention to the sound of the rain.

She turned to Lu Ze, who didn't pay attention to her facial expression. He returned to his seat, opened the document with the scent of ink, analyzed it one by one, and finally signed his name on the document.

There are two copies of the document, which is the contract for the male lead of "Atonement". When he returns to the UK and gives the document to Fatini, the contract will officially come into effect, and Lu Ze will officially join the crew of "Atonement".

The script of "Atonement" adapted by Mickey was sent to Lu Ze's mailbox a few days ago. I took the time to read it in the past few days. The script probably still follows the same idea, a lonely elderly killer. Lu Ze has never denied the script.

Creative, but the plot of the first version was a bit cliche.

But now, after being adapted by Mickey, the creativity of this movie has begun to exude the charm it should have, incorporating some things worth thinking about, not to mention, it has also adapted the killer to be more neurotic and cold-blooded, and the character image is very

It is rich and three-dimensional, and the story is extremely controversial. Overall, Lu Ze is very optimistic about the potential of the second version of "Atonement".

But this work is different from the works shot by Mickey himself. It is more commercial and has a stronger ability to attract passers-by. The connotation and thinking are not like Mickey's works, where every short paragraph is worth recalling. If Lu Ze were to evaluate it,

All I can say is that "Atonement" is a very interesting popcorn movie.

The only thing that made Lu Ze have some doubts was the assassination method. This is also the key factor that distinguishes "Atonement" from other killer movies. It is... too fantasy. To put it bluntly, it is nonsense. It transcends the guns and cold weapons of killer movies.

This is the most conventional assassination method, more similar to the weird and seemingly coincidental killing method in "Death is Coming".

In this way, it will be difficult for this movie to make the audience's blood rush, and to be unable to extricate themselves from the excitement due to common forms such as large-scale gun battles. On the contrary, its sense of suspense will be stronger, making the audience more nervous, even Lu Ze

I also temporarily forget how to breathe when reading certain passages.

If it is paired with a slow-paced, slightly scary song, the effect will definitely be even more outstanding. Lu Ze can foresee how much shadow area will be created in the audience's hearts after the combination of picture and sound.

If "Atonement" is completed, it will definitely be a movie with high reputation. If there are no big IP competitors, the box office can also be expected.

For an actor like Lu Ze who only earns reputation but not money, this is indeed very attractive. After all, he can earn more with high reputation, so no one will mind.

Moreover, the treatment given to Lu Ze in the contract is also very favorable, with a salary of 2 million euros, plus an 8% share. Note, it is not a share of the box office, but a share of all channel income.

Including box office, peripherals, streaming media, etc., 8% of the revenue generated by "Atonement" is indeed high. Considering Lu Ze's popularity in Europe, this price is indeed high.

Even though Lu Ze now has a certain fan base in Europe, and in Europe, the largest box office for literary and artistic films, a large number of literary and artistic film lovers have a positive attitude towards Lu Ze, but looking at the entire market, he still regards him as a

Asian actors in the niche market are labeled as such, and they are in a rather awkward position.

If an insurance price is really given that is in line with Lu Ze's worth, six hundred thousand euros to one million euros is appropriate. As for the box office share as the male lead, eight percent is quite reasonable, not too much, not too little.

.

Is this because Fatini has too much money to spend? Definitely not, it’s just that as the assistant director of "Exile", he participated in the filming of "Exile" and made a choice with full confidence in this upcoming film.

He believed that "Exile" would be a hit, so he took the initiative to advance Lu Ze's net worth after "Exile" was released.

A popular movie may increase the star's net worth several times, and it is not impossible to even add a zero after the original salary. As expected, "Exile", although the possibility of adding a zero is unlikely, will increase by 180%.

One hundred thousand should not be a problem.

And now that the release of "Exile" is no more than five months away at most, then it is better to correct the attitude and directly raise the price to 2 million. Firstly, it shows that one is hungry for talent, and secondly, one expresses his love for the film.

Lu Ze respects Lu Ze’s strength, lest Lu Ze thinks that his salary will be doubled after five months, there is no need to sign now, delay it until five months have passed, and then ask for the salary at that time, in case it increases by then

More than double?

Lu Ze didn't mind what Fatini did. Friends are friends, and business is business. Lu Ze also understands the attitude of Italians towards business. When dealing with business with friends, it is best to do business in a business-like manner, and only then can private matters be kept private.

In fact, it is a gamble by Fatini. Once "Exile" fails, there is a possibility that he will lose money, so the contract is here. In an attitude of great sincerity, it is not a bad idea to sign it.

After the contract was signed, Lu Ze put it into a brown paper bag and locked it in the safe. The CD played on the record player was about to reach the end. Lu Ze stood up, took another CD from the bookshelf and opened it. He was about to put it in the record player.

But she was suddenly interrupted.

"Boss, actually I also brought a CD... it's a rare one, so I wanted to invite you to listen to it, don't mind..."

She brought the CD with her in the spirit of pure sharing, so she was afraid that Lu Ze would think it was because she thought the music in Lu Ze's collection was not good to listen to, so she seemed a little uneasy. In fact, this is normal, and she brought out some good niche music.

It is also a very pleasant thing to appreciate the works.

She handed the CD over. It was full of Russian characters. Lu Ze couldn't recognize a few words. He took it and looked at it carefully. The CD seemed to be old and the outer packaging was full of scratches. He turned it over and took a look at the barcode.

The production date below indicates that it was produced in 1988. It doesn’t look like a pirated disc, it’s probably from a pocket.

The sealing tape refers to genuine optical discs that cannot be sold abroad and are processed uniformly. A hole is cut in the outer packaging to ensure that they will not enter the market again, and then shipped to China, which was not yet developed at that time, for uniform destruction.

Although these optical discs were not resold abroad, they were picked up by some Chinese scavengers or hawkers who specialized in this business during their destruction, and flowed into the Chinese market, becoming the first batch of low-priced genuine copies to appear on the market.

Music CDs can still be found in flea markets to this day.

In foreign countries, these things are unsaleable, but in China, when the entertainment industry was not yet developed, they became popular in China. Young people who pursued fashion bought them back and listened to them in turn. To a certain extent, the beat band was the representative of many early Chinese music.

People's first teachers, including many well-known rock bands, all started their music career after listening to beat band.

Lu Hua also handled Su Lian's garbage decades ago, so that in Lu Hua's market at that time, such CDs were not uncommon in Lu Hua, including the Beatles, ADC, and Queen.

, wait for the CD. Now Lu Ze will go home and look for it, and he may be able to dig out a few more.

"Do you need a mouth strap? Oh, Anton Rubinstein, his CD is hard to find."

"Boss, do you know...?"

If this disc had not been pressed by a Dutch studio, and if there had not been a yellowed English note on the back of the CD box, Lu Ze would not have been able to tell whose work it was from the cover. This thing is indeed rare.

Lu Ze didn't have the chance to meet her either, so he didn't expect that she still had a copy in her hand.

And although Anton Rubinstein is not famous, in the eyes of today's piano lovers, he is indeed not among the first-line pianists in the world's piano history.

There are many reasons for this. For example, his light has been overshadowed by Liszt, and because his composition concepts were not in line with the collective at that time, he was constantly criticized. In short, his life was not smooth, and no one reached out to help him when he was in poverty.

, since his death, he has rarely been mentioned by people. It seems that people have forgotten the contributions made by him, his family, and his students.

His gag tape was very rare and precious, at least here in Lu Ze, so he couldn't help but put his palm on the CD case and wiped it gently for a while, but it didn't have any effect, it still remained

It was full of scratches and the cover was still faded. Fortunately, when I opened the box, the disc inside was still as clean as new.

"Want to hear it?"

He didn't answer her words, and even just responded to her questions. The second before she answered, he had already put the CD into the record player and waited for a moment to start. The top-notch speakers restored the sound quality perfectly, without any trace of time.

, even Lu Ze knew that this CD could not have been recorded by Anton Rubinstein, but this is the most precious thing. What it brings to people is like... a divine friendship separated by a hundred years.

"Romantic"

At this time, a glass of whiskey is needed, and there should be a glass of whiskey. It should not be too strong, but it needs a long enough aftertaste, so Lu Ze chose a glass of Xiang 21 Years.

The square whiskey glass crossed the bar table and stopped in his hand. A few ice cubes were picked up and thrown into the glass, making a clinking sound.

The bottle was opened, and the aroma of the wine had not yet spread out. He poured it into the glass one-third of the way up. He picked it up, smelled it gently, and felt the aroma that was different from Scotch whiskey. He took a sip, and felt a chill at first.

Then I felt the taste of the wine itself. It was easy to drink and not that spicy.

"This CD is rare, keep it in your collection."

He held the wine glass, pulled out the stool opposite her and sat down. The dim light shone on the diamond-cut wine glass, which was very beautiful, and the body of the wine was dyed a deeper brown-gold color.

"good……"

She began to worry. Lu Ze obviously liked this CD. Her brain power started to work, and she had been thinking for a while whether she should give it to him for free if Lu Ze wanted to steal her love.

She couldn't see, so naturally she didn't know how to hide her face. What she was thinking was clearly written on her face. Lu Ze didn't interrupt her thoughts. He held the cup with both hands in an attempt to melt the ice cubes faster.

I wanted to feel what flavors the diluted wine would produce, and I looked out the window, the rain hadn't stopped yet.

"If you like it, boss, just accept it... I have caused you a lot of trouble all along, and I have no way to thank you. I will give you this CD..."

From her words, you could feel how reluctant she was to give up, but she still gritted her teeth, endured the throbbing pain of her heart, and pushed the CD box in front of Lu Ze.

"No, it shouldn't be traded. It should be kept as a family heirloom. If it is a rare thing, it becomes less pure if it is traded. I will borrow it from you if necessary."

Lu Ze pushed the CD box back. After a few arguments, the two stopped and she put it away obediently. It wasn't that she was pretending not to give it away, but that Lu Ze really didn't want to take it.

"Then... boss, if you need it, just take it."

"We'll talk about it when we need it."

The two were silent for a while before she spoke again: "I didn't expect you, boss, to know Anton Rubinstein."

"Well, he is neither unpopular nor niche, but it is difficult to find his music online."

"Really... This is the first time I heard someone talk about him. I thought few people knew about him."
To be continued...